WHAT BAGDAD MEANS TO GERMANY.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 March 1917, Page 6

WHAT BAGDAD MEANS TO GERMANY.

LOSS OF FAMOUS RAILWAY IMMINENT. REMOTE CAUSE OF THE WAR. Writers on remote causes of the war in Europe have made occasional references to the Bagdad railway concession granted several years ago by Turkey to Germany. The subject in set forth by a writer in the Wall Street Journal. By this railroad Constantinople would «bc connected with the Gulf of Persia and with Egypt. Originally it was believed in England that the enterprise was a private one, but more recently it has come to be regarded as a Prussian State enterprise. The meaning of the concession in economic and military advantages to Germany and its meaning to the future of Asiatic Turkey, and especially to the valley of the Euphrates, are set forth in the article. 'Without command of the sea in a great war like the present Germany resembles a besieged city. But in the Bagdad concession Germany could see a future store house for food products, petroleum, copper, fibres, and other necessary raw materials. Before the present Empire was welded together with blood and iron, a Prussian strategist connect cd with the Turkish army saw the advantage of a railway along the line of march traversed by Alexander the Great. Perhaps the concession was evolved from that vision. Certain it is that in 1875 German engineers were .',;dered to build for the Turkish Government a short railroad from Haidar Paslni, opposite Constantinople, Ismidt. This little line was dignified, with the name of the "Anatolian railway," Anatolia being practic ■ ally synonymous with Asia Minor. Thirteen years after this a German company, whose angel was the Deutscn Bank, wan given the privilege of exploiting this line, anil it was extended into northern Anatolia as "far east as Angora, in the province of that name south of the Black Sea. Had this line been extended further cast, paralleling the Russian border, it would have proved of incalculable value to the Turks in their Caucasian campaign against Russia in the present war. Tentacles of an octopus

"In 1898 another extension from Ismidt- was projected south-easterly to Konia (which the, historian will remember as Iconium), in the Turkish province of Adana, wliicli borders on the Mediterranean. Mehemet Ali once said thin province was worth more than all Egypt. Good cotton is now produced in its Sicilian plains, a fact of no small advantage to Germany. Twenty-thres years after the building of the first section of the Anatolian railway, or in 1808, the German Kaiser visited at Constantinople. Apparently the visit was mutually agreeable. William proclaimed himself as "Abdul's only friend in Europe,' and Abdul gave William a concession for the constriction of a railway to connect Constantinople with the Persian Gulf by way of Bagdad, which concession was turned over to a German syndicate. This was the beginning of tlio Bagdad railway, probably one of the several indirect causes of a wardrnma whose stage is three continents, and half the world its actors.

"Several years of negotiation followed this concession. In the end tile syndicate ivas given the authorisation for the Bagdad railway, the construction and operation to be under a kilometric guaranty. This guaranty was a thrifty one for the promoters, but if Turkey was satisfied perhaps the rest of the world had no cause io complain. The capital valuation of the read was fixed at SO, 000,000 francs per section of 200 kilometres (about 'l3O miles). It, was con-" tittered tfcaf. with branches, there would be twelve such sections. But, as a matter of feel, the total mileage now projected will considerably exceed this estimate. Before noginir'ng work on any section, the, Turkish Government was to issue bond-" to the syndicate to an amount equalling the capital value of that scctio,;. The sale of these bonds by the syndicate was to provide it iwth capital for construction purposes. Also, an annuity was guaranteed for maintenance, and another for operation, \he twi aggregating 15.500 francs per kilometre. It is now estimated that, wiic-n the road is fully completed,, the annual charge to the Turkish Government wii! be 31,000,003 francs.

REACHING INTO SYRIA "About 100 miles in the interior is Aleppo, the roadliouse of caravan routes, and the emporium of northern Syria. For cen'tuyies it has been the receiving and distributing point for the export and import trade of Alexandretta. Situated in the midst of a rich agricultural district, it is also the centre of manufactures of carpets and rugs, cotton and ivool, Silk and leather goods. It lias long b»en' tho.ight that when the time came for the Turks to leave Europe this city would.be selected for their new capital. Aleppo, therefore, could rot be ignored. As iiov. - being built, the ; road luns north-east of Kouja, negotiates- the Taurus mountain;, and connects with Aleppo. A branch line connects this city with AlexandrcUa, th vs. bringing <he Bagdad railway to the open sea on the west, in spite of the pplicy of the smiling Abdul. ''After the Aleppo connection the • line turns north-east and erosse:; Northern Syria. Bridging the Euphrates, it then runs almost directly .cast to the oitj* of Moslll, on the Tigris, in Mesopotamia. Here, too, is a land where cotton can be produced. Indeed, Mosul was once famous for its beautiful cotton fabrics, to which it gave the name of 'mosulines,' or muslins. Three hundred miles south of Mosul is the citv of Bagdad, formerly the seat of the Saracen califate, around which there clusters so much romance and story. Calif Almansur built this city about A.D. 703, and in the ninth century it was enlarged by our old-time friend Haran-al-Raschid. in the tenth century this Mesopotamian metropolis boasted a population equal to that of Chicago at this time. Mosul, Bagdad, and such ancient cities as Nineveh and Babylon are potential assurances of the wealth of Mesopotamia, and promises of what the land might, be again under the stimulus of European enterprise and capital. "The drifting sands of centuries have been allowed to choke the ancient irrigation works, and millions of acres of the earth's fattest soil now lie waste for want of water. Engineers say the Tigris and Euphrates might be made to support an irrigation system far more extensive than that employed in the proud days of Nebuchadnezzar, when the land sustained a great population. It was for the Bagdad district that Sir ■William • Wilcoclis, of Assu&p. Darn planned a great imptioo eastern-

Through the ports of Bagdad and Basso-1 rah.' in Mesopotamia, an.l Ale.vaiulretta, in Syria, already go in limited 1 quantities such important products as wheat, corn, rice, barley, fruits, nuts, vegetables, tobacco, cotton, wool, mohair, raw silk, horses, cattle, sheep, hides and sluns. In 1010 a million crates of oranges went from the little port of Jaffa alone, Capital and enterprise could make this whole land a great producer of foodstuffs and raw materials for manufacturing." •